Yum! Brands, Inc. $YUM Shares Purchased by National Pension Service

National Pension Service raised its position in Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) by 4.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 470,206 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 18,060 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.17% of Yum! Brands worth $75,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in YUM. Cidel Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.5% in the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,484 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 5,479 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 1,511 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 11,287 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,804,000 after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.6% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 17,485 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,795,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised Yum! Brands to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Yum! Brands from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $165.00 to $175.00 in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $175.24.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $44,436.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $77,482.86. This trade represents a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP David Russell sold 7,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total transaction of $1,219,227.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,831,674. This trade represents a 39.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 18,780 shares of company stock worth $2,940,693 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM stock opened at $141.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.97. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $170.14. The firm has a market cap of $38.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises quick-service restaurants. Its portfolio includes KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill, which offer products such as fried and grilled chicken, tacos and other Mexican-inspired foods, pizza, burgers and related menu items.

The company's restaurants serve customers through a combination of company-operated locations and franchised and licensed outlets. Yum! Brands supports its restaurant concepts with brand management, franchise services, technology and digital ordering capabilities, while franchisees generally manage day-to-day restaurant operations.

Yum! Brands serves customers in numerous markets worldwide, with a significant presence in the United States and international markets across regions including Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

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